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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29861370">Proof That Morgan Stark Has A Heart</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/akasharpiegirl/pseuds/akasharpiegirl'>akasharpiegirl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Accusations of activities teenagers shouldn’t be participating in, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, F/M, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, Morgan Stark Has A Heart, Morgan Stark Needs a Hug (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Morgan Stark-centric (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Panic Attacks, Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Tony Stark, Parental worries, Parenthood, Pepper Potts Needs a Hug, Pepperony - Freeform, Protective Pepper Potts, Protective Tony Stark, Protectiveness, Sneaking Out, Teen Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Teenage Rebellion, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark is Good With Kids, Worry, im too lazy to delete it, instead of grieving i wrote this, morgan just wanted to help, wait is that tag for the tv show my parents watched?</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 00:47:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,184</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29861370</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/akasharpiegirl/pseuds/akasharpiegirl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Seventeen-year-old Morgan Stark sneaks out.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) &amp; Tony Stark, Pepper Potts &amp; Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Pepper Potts/Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Proof That Morgan Stark Has A Heart</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Woah, look at that. A new fic! I’ve been working on it for awhile but finally got the ability to finish it this morning and wrote half of it between twelve AM and three AM. Fun things your brain does instead of letting you sleep or process grief. :’D</p><p>I wanted to explore the idea of Morgan sneaking out of the house in the night and being seemingly a ‘rebellious teenager’—how her parents would react, why she would sneak out in the first place, and how it all shook out. Here’s what I came up with. </p><p>TW and CW for mentions of the following: lack of food, loss of job, kidnapping, death. Accusations of sexual activity, partying, and drinking are also included. Pepper calls in a missing report in this fic and Tony has a panic attack, which may also be triggering. There are<br/>possibly more. If there are any that I missed, please let me know and I’ll update the list ASAP. Rated teen for those issues and minor cursing. Please be careful.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The parents or Morgan Stark were awoken in the middle of the night to FRIDAY’s alarm. A few minutes after three.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Their worst nightmare. Three little words strung together in one sentence… how could three little words be so terrifying? </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>‘Morgan is missing.’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Those three little words threw Tony’s entire world out of balance. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean Morgan’s missing?” Pepper asks for Tony, who’s on the verge of a panic attack. She rubs his back as he takes in shallow breaths and his head falls in his hands. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My system went offline between two AM to three AM for weekly scheduled data updates. When my system reset, security scans saw no sign of her car or physical presence on property. She left when my system was down,” FRIDAY informs. “I tried searching for her cellular telephone signal but got nowhere. Her phone is off when she drives to minimize distractions.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tony looks up from his hands and mumbles out, “FRI, c-check crime report. Search… search for high school or college… college parties going on, a-anything you can find.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“On it,” FRIDAY says. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Tony—“, Pepper barely gets out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Pep, I-I don’t… what if… w-what if she... I don’t know what to—“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She hushes him, “Shh. Tony, honey. I need you to listen to me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why are you… why are you so calm? Our daughter’s missing!” Tony yelps.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just because I seem calm doesn’t mean I am,” she shakes her head, wrapping her husband in an embrace from the side. He lets out a sharp breath as he attempts to relax in her arms. He squirms in her hold. “I’ll file a missing person report and with FRIDAY to our aid, we’ll find her. Everything will be okay. I snuck out when I was thirteen, to my neighbor’s house… when my Mom told me she was getting remarried after my Dad died. They found me in the morning and I was fine… obviously, considering I’m right here.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before Tony can respond, FRIDAY speaks up: “No recent crime reports of interest. I’ve traced all footage from cameras and social media posts that I could find around the two high school parties and three college parties currently happening in a hundred mile radius. There’s no sign of her at any location. Facial recognition was unable to trace anyone that she knows personally at each event. The next step would be to wait and call in a missing person report.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pepper lets go of Tony when she grabs her phone, as she types in the number for emergency services with right hand on her phone, she grasps onto Tony’s hand with her left. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He blinks through his tears and lets out another shaky breath as he watches her hold the phone between her ear and right shoulder. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hi, I’m V-Virginia Stark. Um, my daughter… she, uh, she is missing. My husband and I woke up to find that she’s not at our house and her car isn’t either,” Pepper says into the phone, giving Tony’s hand a squeeze as she does. “She’s… she’s seventeen years old. 5 foot 2, around 130 pounds. Dark brown hair… it goes a little further down below her shoulder blades. Brown eyes… freckles </span>
  <em>
    <span>everywhere. </span>
  </em>
  <span>She has a small scar on her forehead from when s-she, um, fell off her sled when she was five.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He tries to fight off his anxiety—</span>
  <em>
    <span>they’ll find her, she’ll be okay, it’s fine—</span>
  </em>
  <span>when he hears Pepper continue: “Morgan Hope Potts-Stark. T-There’s a hyphen in between Potts and Stark. M-O-R-G-A-N. Hope is usual, H-O-P-E. P-O-T-T-S, hyphen, S-T-A-R-K.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There’s a pause.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There’s a small trail of tears that cascade down Pepper’s face then and she takes in a sharp breath. She struggles to say, “S-She’s introverted and quite, um, c-cautious around people she doesn’t know. She’s… she’s sweet, u-um, bright, she’s quick-witted. I don’t know if… if you’d need this but she’s a big bookworm. Y-You may find her t-talking about </span>
  <em>
    <span>I Capture the Castle</span>
  </em>
  <span> or something. Her friends started calling her ‘Margot’ recently for some reason and her Dad calls her ‘Maguna’, which may help.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His mind’s starting to race again when he could only assume that his wife was beginning to explain car facts and everything else you need to lay out in one of these calls. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I shouldn’t have gotten rid of the suits, we’d know where she was already if I had them. She’s my daughter, the other half of what makes my whole life worth it. What would I do without her? What if she ran away? I mean, that’s what it looks like. But, why? What if someone kidnaps her? ...hurts her? What if it’s someone I knew? Hammer? That damn maniac who went after Peter in Europe? Oh, God… no. No, no, no. I—</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She was, um… was last seen wearing a black Chaos… Chaos Walking shirt. Orange circular logo on the… on the top left corner,” Pepper mumbles out, sniffling as her tears grow frequent. “Grey sweatpants with her dance team name on the right leg, um, Madden… M-Madden School of Dance. She might have a grey beanie or a winter coat on because it’s cold but I-I don’t know.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He squeezes her hand again, just before she says into the phone: “Thank you so much.” She ends the call and looks at her husband. Her pale face was etched in panic-ridden red and so were her eyes. “They’re going to, um… to send a few cruisers around town in the next hour, they… they may find her car somewhere. If they can’t, t-they’ll post the report in the database in the morning. I’ll, um, I will get a call back if they find her… find her before then.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He grabs his phone with his free hand and frantically types out a series of messages when he finds Morgan’s contact. ‘Morgan, I don’t know if you’ll see this, but if you do… please tell me you’re okay,’ ‘We’re worried about you,’ and ‘I love you, kiddo. More than you’ll ever know.’</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>————</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Morgan’s cell signal has been detected,” FRIDAY updates. It’s just past four AM now.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tony lets out a sigh of relief, “FRIDAY, where?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Approximately zero-point-four miles away from the front gate and now moving closer, boss,” FRIDAY states. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The next thing Tony knows, he and Pepper are downstairs in the dim living room area.  Pepper’s standing quietly, her right arm is by her side while her left holds her right elbow, while her husband stood just barely in front and arms crossed against his chest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The side door lock’s turning. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Morgan carefully opens the door and steps inside—seemingly unscathed, and quietly shuts the door behind her. She locks the door back and—</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Morgan?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her eyes widened and she looked at her teary eyed parents. “Shit,” she mumbles under her breath just before her father rushes over to her and hugs her tight. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You had us worried sick!” he scolds. “What were you thinking?! You scared the devil out of me, I thought you were—“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I-I’m sorry,” the teenager squeaks. “If you.. if ya keep huggin’ me this tight I’m probably gonna… gonna be dead.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tony lets go of his daughter and steps back closer to his wife. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Morgan lets out a breath and before Morgan can say anything to her parents, her father interjects: “What were you doing?! Were you out having sex? With a boy? At a party? Drinking?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Morgan gapes, glancing at her mother who was stoic, before looking back at her dad. She fakes a gag in disgust. “First off, ew. Definitely </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>sex.” She folds her arms against her chest. “Second, no boy even looks at me because they’re scared of </span>
  <em>
    <span>Iron Man</span>
  </em>
  <span> coming after them if they ever broke his precious little daughter’s heart. And third, do you really think I would’ve driven myself home if I was at a party or out drinking?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Both parents blink. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Morgan, sweetheart… what… what were you doing? You were, erm, were out for </span>
  <em>
    <span>two</span>
  </em>
  <span> hours,” Pepper speaks up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Morgan drops her arms from the fold and begins to fidget. “You two are going to think I’m lying… and I need to go ahead and say that I’m… I-I’m not.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Please don’t say you’re a vigilante hero or something. I can’t deal with another super kid,” Tony interjects. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not Peter.” Morgan shakes her head. “It’s really complicated a-and I promised her I wouldn’t tell a-anyone but now that you know I’m helping... I can’t exactly keep to that, uh… that promise anymore.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There’s a tear in her eye, Tony notices. She rarely cries when she tries to lie, and she sounds way too serious to be lying. </span>
  <em>
    <span>But she's helping who do what?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you want to sit down?” Pepper asks before shooting a look of concern at her husband. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I… um, sure,” Morgan says with a nervous nod of the head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They sit on the couch and Morgan’s in between the two.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My friend Alice… she, um… her mom lost her job awhile ago. A-And, she got a new one but it’s… it’s, um, part-time and barely pays for much more than utilities. T-They can barely afford food and… a-and I’ve been sneaking out e-every Friday night… technically S-Saturday, for a few weeks to get them food to carry them through until Monday,” Morgan spews, there’s tears coming down her cheeks now. She’s looking toward the floor, trying to think. “Tonight just sucked b-because there was a car crash on the way t-to her house and then on the way back I had to take a detour through the back roads because of the construction site that only gets worked on from like three to 5:30 and then there was a c-college party that was busted by the cops. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please—“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You snuck out every single weekend to help a friend survive?” Pepper interrupts. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uh-huh.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, honey… you should’ve come to us sooner,” Tony’s tone softens as he speaks, rubbing his daughter’s back. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Logically, I-I know that… but I knew Alice would be so mad at me if I did a-and I just wanted to help…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, you get help for your friend by coming to an adult you can trust,” he disagrees. “Not by handling it on your own behind your parents’ backs.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m really sorry,” she mumbles. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s alright, you came to us now… even if you didn’t want to… that’s what’s important,” Pepper says. “You’re a good kid, Morgan. Dad and I will help you figure all this out, okay?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” Morgan breathes out. She looks between her parents. “Am I… am I in trouble?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pepper reaches out her hand for her daughter’s and Morgan holds. The eldest woman looks between her family, communicating with Tony silently. “I think that even though your intentions were good, you still snuck out of the house,” Pepper says. “...far past curfew, which is 10:30. And while I know you know better, I’ll feel like a bad parent and I bet your father will too if we didn’t tighten your privileges for a week or two.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Morgan nods.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you think? Lockdown?” Pepper asks</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tony raises his brow before silently agreeing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Your tech will be under lockdown for two weeks… it’ll be lifted before you wake on that Saturday morning. So you can only use your phone to text and call and everything else will be loosely monitored,” Pepper continues. “You will clear everything in your social calendar with us before you go out. If you are out and plans change, let us know.” She looks at Tony. “You can run that protocol real quick?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tony speaks up, “FRI, enforce the ‘Playpen Protocol’ on Morgan’s phone through November 1 at six AM… run by ‘Baby Monitor two-point-oh’ on her laptop while you’re at it, too, with the same termination date settings.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The ‘Playpen Protocol’ and the ‘Baby Monitor two-point-oh Protocol’ will be enforced through November 1 at six AM, boss,” FRIDAY says a moment later.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I hate that you call it the ‘Playpen Protocol’, Dad,” Morgan whines. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And you don’t mind the baby monitor?” Tony snickers. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, you rarely use the baby monitor on me,” Morgan says in defense. “And I don’t have anything to hide. You’ll just find me reading fanfiction about my favorite found family from that movie you can’t stand at random times of the day when I should probably be studying.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s quiet all of the sudden after that... aside from the soft sound of Pepper typing on her phone. She quickly calls the station to cancel the search. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>When she hangs up, Morgan speaks up: “What about Alice and her mom? I don’t want Alice to get sent away or—”</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’ll take care of it, baby girl,” Pepper says. “A seventeen year old isn't meant to do all that you’ve been doing. They’ll be okay, I promise. Don’t you worry.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>———</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s been a week and a half since then. Alice’s Mom has a new job that pays well and Morgan’s sound asleep through the night on Friday nights as she should be.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I hope you enjoyed. If you did, please leave kudos, comments, and a share. :)</p><p>Follow me on Twitter (evermorestarks) and tumblr (akasharpiegirl) for fic updates and my madness.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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